31 March 2014

Golgotha on steroids


Ella Morton has a Slate article about an unusual destination:
Should you ever feel the urge to be surrounded by Christianity's best-known symbol, head to the Hill of Crosses in northern Lithuania.
Crosses have been accumulating on the mound of this former fort since the fourteenth century, when the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire occupied the nearby city of Šiauliai. New crosses tend to appear during periods of occupation or unrest as symbols for Lithuanian independence. This was particularly evident during a peasant uprising against Russian control in 1831, when people began placing crucifixes in remembrance of missing and dead rebels. By 1895, there were a hundred and fifty large crosses on the site. In 1940, the number had grown to four hundred.
During the Soviet occupation, which lasted from 1944 to 1991, the Hill of Crosses was bulldozed three times. Each time, locals and pilgrims returned to put up more crosses. The site achieved worldwide fame among Catholics when Pope John Paul II visited in 1993 to thank Lithuanians for their enduring symbol of faith.
There are now approximately a hundred thousand crosses on the hill. The faithful are welcome to add their contribution, in whatever form they wish; a crucifix made of Legos recently joined the collection.
Rico says not his kinda place, but interesting...

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